Jazz /
De Hondemepper
"The road to this collaboration starts at the 1985 Holland Festival, when Hoketus—the flinty post-rock new-music ensemble founded by Louis Andriessen—premiered Rokus de Veldmuis (Rokus the Fieldmouse) by Misha Mengelberg (1935–2017). As Hoketus pianist Gerard Bouwhuis recalls, it generated some minor grumbling within the band; the chipper first movement appeared to mock Hoketus’s hard-edged seriousness. But the second half—“Een hutje van gras” (A Little Grass Hut)—was a wow: a hurtling triple ca…
European Echoes: Jazz Experimentalism in Germany, 1950-1975
This book is a historical and interpretive study of the movement of jazz experimentalism in West and East Germany between the years 1950 and 1975. It complicates the narratives advanced by previous scholars by arguing that engagement with black musical methods, concepts, and practices remained significant for the emergence of the German jazz experimentalism movement. In a seemingly paradoxical fashion, this engagement with black musical knowledge enabled the formation of more self-reliant musica…
Dental Kafka
Jim O'Rourke (of Gastr del Sol and Sonic Youth fame) plays a lot with Japanese Free jazz legend Akira Sakata in various formations. Together with Italian composer and pianist Giovanni di Domenico and the drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto they form this powerful band. Their second release combines contemporary Avantgarde and Free Jazz in a beautiful way.Line-up:Akira Sakata - sax, clarinet, voiceJim O’Rourke - double bassGiovanni di Domenico – piano, hohner pianetTatsuhisa Yamamoto - drumsRecorded Jim O…
Dance With an Idiot
A fresh new studio album by powerful Russian Free jazz band BROM, now with a fourth player (guitar and electronics). Press about their last album (Sunstroke, Trost):"It is a reverent and thoughtful performance, with powerhouse electric bass at its core, leading to a fast and furious conclusion." - Jazzandbluesblogspot"Moscow based power jazz trio BROM are a group that push against musical boundaries and allow such diverse genres as rock, noise, free jazz and improvisation to leak into their ever…
To Catch a Bird In a Net of Wind
Tashi Dorji (electric guitar) and Tyler Damon (drums/percussion) have developed a musical language that is not only shaped by original forms as free jazz, metal, rock and Buddhist monastic music. Their sound merges passion and emotions of literature, art, cultural movements, politics - flashes of ecstatic intensity, blurred timbral lines, fractal repetition, noir-ish, cinematic mystery and inclinations toward free play hint that the two are pleased to follow a winding path to destinations yet un…
The Miracle
**300 copies** In its 6th release, Mr. Nakayasi Records treat us with a rich and adventurous recording by The Miracle, a group of musicians with individual and collective links to Belgium’s free-improv music scene. The Miracle is a live capture of the ensemble's epic debut at Studio Grez, Brussels in December 2018. Recalling the spirits of Mirakle, uncompromising Derek Bailey’s album with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Calvin Weston, this release presents an inspired, innovative and immediate intersecti…
Axis/Another Revolvable Thing
Axis / Another Revolvable Thing is the second installment of Blank Forms’ archival reissues of the music of Japan’s eternal revolutionary Masayuki Takayanagi, following April Is the Cruellest Month, a 1975 studio record by his New Direction Unit.
Axis/Another Revolvable Thing 2
Axis / Another Revolvable Thing is the second installment of Blank Forms’ archival reissues of the music of Japan’s eternal revolutionary Masayuki Takayanagi, following April Is the Cruellest Month, a 1975 studio record by his New Direction Unit.
Axis/Another Revolvable Thing 1
Axis / Another Revolvable Thing is the second installment of Blank Forms’ archival reissues of the music of Japan’s eternal revolutionary Masayuki Takayanagi, following April Is the Cruellest Month, a 1975 studio record by his New Direction Unit.
Lena
**CD version** "A primal force of something... real. I have listened back and forth to the new album of Anna Högberg's “Attack” numerous times now and it hit me like a split axe in a split second: this music is for real! Wham Bam! This is liberating music. Allowing music. It hits me just as the split axe hits the wood. Without hesitation, but still very sensitive. Pure power does not cut the wood automatically. No fancy flirts with post-this and post-that. Just the force. Of itself. This music i…
19770916@Ayler, Sapporo
Doubtmusic has discovered a previously unreleased Kaoru Abe alto saxophone solo improvisation! This CD features a complete 30 minutes performance held in summer 1977 at a jazz cafe in Sapporo which was called "Ayler" and no longer exists since long time. We no longer talk about Abe's voice ranging by ready-made musical concept. Even his silence has persuasiveness. His voice has an ubiquity which transcend new or old musical trends. We would like young music fans who have never heard of Kaoru Abe…
Opus Caementicium
"The Mafioso expression 'cement shoes' describes a method of execution or body disposal – wrapping the victim or body in concrete and pushing into deep water. This expression has become a tongue-in-cheek death threat by criminals, despite no real evidence of using this method of execution. Now this American expression also graces the name of a new pan-European trio, featuring Italian, Brussels-based Fender Rhodes and electronics player Giovanni di Domenico, Portuguese, Rotterdam-based electric b…
Gjerhan
III (pronounced /el/) is Daichi Yoshikawa, Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright. This recording includes two bare 20-minute excerpts from separate performances at Café OTO. Daichi Yoshikawa (feedback); Paul Abbott (drums); Seymour Wright (alto saxophone). gjerhan began from subterranea, sweat, haze and dedication emerging out of intimate and intense weekly meetings begun in 2009 -- their first, 2012 public performance, squeezed into a London basement was a sheer, vexed and exhilarating smack of organi…
Dog Life
**300 copies, heavy gatefold cover** LP with swedish Free jazz trio Dog Life Anna Högberg: Saxophones, Finn Loxbo: Electric Bass and Mårten Magnefors: Drums. Dog Life explores free improvised music on a high-energetic plateau, descending from the outskirts of free jazz, and further towards a harder, darker and undefined terrain. "Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra featured some of the promising, young musicians in the Swedish left-of-center scene. Sax player Anna Högberg was one of them, blowing …
Freedom Suite
**300 copies** The Kollektiv für Kommunikative und Ästhetische Forschung was an artist commune that existed for about two years around 1970 in a former monastery in Mariental (Lower Saxony), West Germany, close to the then inner-German border. It was founded by members of the West Berlin free art and music scene, many of them having been part of the scene based around the short-lived Zodiak Free Arts Lab. Among the residents were drummer Sven-Åke Johansson, guitarist Norbert Eisbrenner and bassi…
Hungry Ghosts
**CD version** Hungry Ghosts are beings who are driven by intense emotional needs, periodically roaming the earth’s surface in search for anything that can satisfy their cravings. Now they are here for you! The omnipotent living legend Paal-Nilssen Love clashes head to head with bass prodigy Christian Meaas Svendsen on bass, playing with 2-3 bows, cheek, voice, hands and feet. In the midst of the battle we find Yong Yandsen, a high-octane Malaysian sax virtuoso who virtually explodes on stage co…
Troposgrafien
**CD version** Kasper Skullerud Værnes and Andreas Wildhagen has played together for ten years as of 2018. They formed a duo shortly after meeting, and quickly realized that the power and subtleness of the sax and drums duo format was worth further explorations. Through the years and in various ensembles and projects such as KNYST! (trio with bassist and Nakama founder Christian Meaas Svendsen,) and Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, the duo has grown and developed a highly flexible and telepathic in…
Forms & Poses
**CD version** Forms & Poses is Norwegian bass player Christian Meaas Svendsen’s second solo album, and features four compositions / improvisations which explore the physical connection between the human body and the double bass. Although recorded in two entirely different settings, it is clear that Svendsen’s mind-set on all these tracks are one and the same, and the release shines as a condensed representation of his creative diversity. The CD version comes with a 24-page long booklet with lin…
Cepi Meets Hic
"Cepi is a solid reality located in the south of France. It’s Barre Phillips’ vision about improvisation. It can be flexible about the team but not about the idea above it all. Hic stands for Hidden Improvisers Consort; it’s a study group under the guide of Claudio Lugo. This meeting has been organized and strongly desired by Barre Phillips and Tommaso Rolando. We made a big circle, we played with the fire."The Cepi Nomads: Barre Phillips - Contrabass / György Kurtag - Electronics / Laurent Char…
Didi
"Argentinian pianist Fernando Gelbard's killer debut (and only) '74 LP. Didi is a potent mix of Fender Rhodes & Moog with scatting percussionists and fierce tenor sax -- Coltrane meets candombe!" Gatefold sleeve. "If I was asked to name some great Argentinian jazz musicians, I'd probably draw a blank after Gato Barbieri, but this rather nice slab of vinyl has added a couple more to the list. Fernando Gelbard played piano with tenorist Horacio Borraro, whose quartet peddled a fiery if unoriginal…